Phalanndwa Colliery is a coal mine in South Africa’s Province of Mpumalanga and has played a major role in uplifting the lives of residents in Victor Kanye community, the mining company provides jobs and farming land to the community.

There is nothing intriguing in life than seeing something that you have been studying about unfolds right before your eyes. On October 23, 2018 Journalism students, journalists and a geologist have been granted an opportunity of a site visit at Phalanndwa Colliery.

Phalanndwa colliery is located 10km east of Delmas mpumalanga, commenced mining in October 2010 and was fully operational inclusive of its wash plant in 2013. Canyon coal extracts 120 000 tons of ROM per month of 2 upper,main and lower scams with ROM top size of 500mm.

The current economic status in South Africa focuses more on mining activities, as their additional way of fast-growing the economy. The coal which is obtained from collieries in South Africa ranges among the largest in the world to smaller-scale yield. Phalanndwa colliery is one of the other well-functioning mines in Mpumalanga province.

The MJT2018 2-day programme was an eye opener in terms of the mining industry and the efforts which the sector has taken on to ensure that both miners and their families are not only taken care of but that there are preventative measures taken in terms of ensuring that safety on site is a priority to significantly bring down fatalities, serious injuries and incidences of disease due to exposure and ensure the safety of female miners at work.

Coal exploration and mining company, Canyon Coal is looking to extend the current one year life of mine (LOM) at its Phalanndwa Colliery, an open-cast operation located some 20km outside Delmas, Mpumalanga, by a further eight years.

Prior to and since our visit to the Phlanndwa colliery on the outskirts of Delmas in Mpumalanga, I had been considering the fuel’s sustainability and future in South Africa and other developing countries fighting for their place among the industrialised nations.

Mining companies can longer ignore the impact of mining on surrounding communities. A sunny Tuesday morning, we travel to Canyon Coal’s Phalanndwa Colliery, about 10 km from Delmas, Mpumalanga. Surrounded by other coal mines and communities, Canyon Coal is optimistic about the future of mining, with a focus on value-adding initiatives in the current political and socio-economic landscape.

They say all roads lead to Rome, but except for this one bumpy, dusty and gravelly paved, which twists its way and heads straight for the coal mining capital, granting heavy loads and machinery access to the kingdom.

According to Alan Mabbet, the general manager of Phalanndwa Colliery, managing stakeholders in the mining sector sometimes takes up more efforts and time than attending to actual operations of a mine. Phalanndwa is an open cast strip coal mining operation, wholly owned by Canyon Mining Services (Pty) Ltd.

The Phalanndwa Colliery coal mine in Mpumalanga has committed to uplifting the community of the Victor Khanye Municipality where it is situated by employing 82% of local residents at mine. The coal open cast mine which is situated about 19 kilometers on the outskirts of Delmas Township employs 88 employees, 69 being local and 19 only non local.

The world is shrouded in a cloud of smoke as countries continue to manufacture and industrialise while polar bears die in the Arctic Circle and scientists try to figure out how to avoid our planet’s temperature from increasing with yet another degree in the next couple of years.

Menar Academy a project of Vuslat Bayoglu’s Menar Holdings company has provided a once in a lifetime opportunity for Journalists and journalism students to learn from the mining experts and senior journalists. Mining Journalism Training was facilitated at the Turbine Hall in Johannesburg while on the second day candidates were transported to the Phalanndwa Colliery in Mpumalanga for a practical sensation of the mining institution.

Bordering the Gauteng and Mpumalanga border, Canyon Coal’s Phalanndwa Mine is nestled between Eskom’s Kendal and Kusile Power Stations, surrounded by other coal mines and tiny communities – about 10km from Delmas and in the heart of a coal rich region of the Highveld.

South Africa produces additional of 255 million tons of coal and consumes almost three-quarters of that domestically. South Africa is one of the seven largest coal-producing and one of the top five coal-exporting countries in the world.

On the 6th of September 2017, the Menar Academy and Canyon Company has done a great Job by offering 19 journalists across Gauteng province a trip to Phalanndwa operating mine in Delmas. This was done after the end of two-day workshops at Hyatt Regency in Rosebank.

Becoming better acquainted with the scorching South African sun, some first-time visitors – such as this journalist – to junior coal mining company Canyon Coal’s Phalanndwa Colliery, in Delmas, Mpumalanga, left with a renewed interest in the coal industry after investment company Menar facilitated a mine site visit to Phalanndwa, this month.

The South African mining industry is to this day some-what between 100 and 150 years of age since the discovery of diamond in the 1860s. For all these years, it’s worth noting that the (mining) industry has accounted for a better economic role in the country even on the rest of the world.

Reading or studying about mining is one thing, but being on the ground and experience the operation and watch all unfold right before your eyes, that, that is a thrill. Like an adrenaline junkie, Phalanndwa Colliery at that moment made me feel like I can sky dive without a parachute.